Gov. Henry McMaster isn't giving up on an aborted nuclear power project in Fairfield County.

After years of cost overruns, SCE&G and the state-owned Santee Cooper utility companies announced in July they were abandoning plans to complete construction of two nuclear reactors.

“The main thing that I am focusing on now is how to fix the situation," McMaster said while answering questions from reporters Tuesday night at Bob Jones University in Greenville. “What I want to do is try to build both of those reactors or at least build one."

He added, "I believe in the future of nuclear power."

If the project cannot be salvaged, McMaster said utility customers who helped pay for the work "need to get their money back."

McMaster said he also is looking at selling Santee Cooper.

“We’ve had a lot of interest from companies around the country and actually from around the world,” he said.

Responding to another question, the governor also said he hopes to spend about $35 million that South Carolina will receive from Volkswagen's emission-cheating settlement to buy new school buses. McMaster vetoed a plan in June to spend $20.5 million in lottery money to buy buses.

McMaster also said state officials are keeping a close eye on powerful Hurricane Irma as it approaches the U.S. mainland.

“People are working around the clock right now to see that we know what is happening," he said.

Irma had top sustained winds of 185 mph as it approached the Leeward Islands on Tueday night.

"I don’t think we’ve had one like this on record that has been that strong," McMaster said. "There is nothing we can do to stop it — all we can do is get ready for it.”

McMaster said he has "enormous confidence" in the state's first-responders.

"They are well-trained and ready," he said.

About 200 people attended McMaster's speech to the Bob Jones University Public Policy Organization.

He received applause from the audience for issuing an executive order calling for state agencies to cease payments to medical professionals affiliated with abortion clinics and for seeking to discourage refugees from six predominately Muslim nations from resettling in South Carolina.

Tuesday's speech marked McMaster's third visit to the Upstate in the past nine days. One of his rivals in the 2018 governor's race, Republican Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant of Anderson, is counting on the region for significant support.

"I love competition," McMaster said, adding that "I go all over the state all of the time."